


There are heroes

by Kilted_Wolf93



Series: 100 Drabble Challenge [16]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-22 21:26:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17067425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kilted_Wolf93/pseuds/Kilted_Wolf93
Summary: “I’ll protect you,” he affirmed.Never again shall Sansa ever look at him with such haunting sadness, she will only ever be safe and loved so long as he lived.“I promise.”





	There are heroes

**Author's Note:**

> prompt 16 - haunted

It wasn’t at all how Jon thought a reunion would go. He hadn’t thought there would ever be a reunion, and especially not one with Sansa.

He remembered the bright girl he had known, eager to embrace the warm courts of the South, radiant as always.

And though she was beautiful as a woman too, there was a haunted look in her eyes that made his stone cold heart melt once more.

Since he had come back from the betrayal, he had never thought to ever care about anything again, not even the ruins of Winterfell.

“Will you tell me what happened to you?” he would murmur each night.

Each night she would give him a sad little smile and sigh, as though his asking truly bothered her. Then she would tell him sweetly that it didn’t matter anymore, that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to change it. He couldn’t protect her, nobody could.

But he wanted to know all the same. He wanted the names of all those who had wronged her, hurt her, shamed her. He wanted to hunt them down like a feral wolf, wanted to tear them apart and come back with bloodied flesh to prove his ability.

He hadn’t known when the feelings became possessive, like a protective lover rather than a brother, but he knew it haunted him every night as she lay in the bed across from him. He would lie and watch the candle die down, watch the light catch in her hair with a keen fascination.

And even when the truth came out of a stammering Sam’s mouth, the shame only burned him more than any fire. To have his first thoughts be ‘there would be nothing wrong with it’, as though he had any right to Sansa just because their blood relation was acceptable to Westeros.

As he found purpose again, a drive to make her happy (because she so deserves to be happy), he travelled the North by her side, persuading the people to fight for Winterfell, to restore it to the rightful rule of the Starks, to the Lady of Winterfell.

Still, his dreams haunted him all the while. Pretty pictures of her, sitting in the ruling chair and he by her side, her ever faithful servant. But it would all he would ever have, he knew. These fleeting moments between sleep and waking, where he could see it so clearly. All his deepest, darkest desires clear for a brief second before it all faded and he was tethered back to reality, reminded of who and what he was.

A royal bastard, but a bastard all the same.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked one night, as she sat waiting on her bed for him to come to his chambers.

He swallowed, feeling the guilt rise and paint his face with shame. “I…”

“You killed Janos Slynt.”

“I did.”

Before the confusion truly gripped him, she had launched herself towards him and threw herself into his arms, just as she had done when she had come through the gates and caused his cold heart to beat again.

“There are heroes,” she whispered, nuzzling into his shoulder.

“I’ll protect you,” he affirmed.

Never again shall Sansa ever look at him with such haunting sadness, she will only ever be safe and loved so long as he lived.

“I promise.”


End file.
